Beverages are sold in large volume at sporting events, and the cups in which the beverages are served often serve as souvenirs for the fans. The cups also provide valuable advertising space which may be used by the sports team, the venue, team sponsors, or sold to others. Traditional drinking cups, however, suffer from a number of disadvantages. In particular, most cups have a standard shape that is not particularly eye catching. Although mugs, containers and cups having a variety of stylized shapes have been developed, there is an continuing need for need for drinking containers with distinctive shapes that find favor with sports fans. Fans of NASCAR® races, in particular, exhibit extraordinary enthusiasm and often purchase products that demonstrate their support for their sport, such as purchasing, wearing and carrying products carrying sponsor logos and the numbers, names, likenesses and signatures of the sport's drivers.
In addition, traditional drinking cups spill all too easily when they tip or drop because most cup lids come loose when the cup is squeezed, knocked over or jostled. This problem can be made worse by accident prone and mischievous children. Closed squeeze containers solve this problem to some extent, but they still leak and spill when knocked over or squeezed. Closed squeeze containers can also be difficult to drink from as vacuum collapses the container during drinking.
Accordingly, there is an ongoing need for a drinking vessel that evokes the imagery of popular sports, such as NASCAR® races. There is a further need for a non-spill drinking container that evokes the imagery of NASCAR® races and is adapted to carry sponsor logos and the numbers, names, likenesses and signatures of the sport's drivers.